IT Hiring Manager’s Guide — Part 3: Getting the best person for the job

In part one and two of this series, taken from our latest eBook, “The IT Hiring Manager’s Brief Guide to IT Staffing,” we looked at the different types of non-employees and independent contractors. Read on for part three of the series, which has some important tips to ensure you get the right person for your open IT position, or download the entire eBook.

When creating an IT job description, your natural instinct might be to just load up the description with all the skills you could ever need. However, there’s more to IT staffing than just the person’s technical knowledge. And there’s more to be concerned about than simply whether or not he or she can do the job.

When searching for skilled IT professionals, companies often overlook two main areas. The first is the scope of the position and its role in your company. This is especially crucial given today’s war for talented and experienced IT professionals.

The second area is working with recruiting partners. More than ever, HR departments don’t have the resources to recruit for all positions across the organization. As a result, IT and many other technical departments typically rely on a third party to recruit for them.

Below are some tips to help make sure you are getting the most skilled IT person, along with the best fit for you and your company.

Make sure you have good, up-to-date job descriptions. First, nobody likes writing job descriptions. (OK, maybe someone in HR, but probably not you.) But the job description is an important tool that helps managers think about the job’s tasks, required skills, and work environment.
Provide feedback on resumes and interviews. One of the biggest universal complaints in recruiting is the lack of feedback to candidates. Whether it pertains to submitted resumes or feedback after interviews, providing feedback is a vital part to the recruiting process.
Be open with your recruiting partners. Let’s face it, staffing companies and consultants are vendors your company pays for a service. They are for-profit and will make money if they successfully fill your jobs. However, recruiting is also a people business, which means that it is about your relationship with your recruiters, recruiters’ relationships with candidates, and the ability to create an interaction that, if successful, helps complete your project and ultimately makes your life easier.

Our eBook has more information and tips, and as you can see, many of the tips above relate to working with your staffing vendors. In the next part of the series, we’ll delve into the specific reasons some companies choose to formalize their staffing programs and why your attention is important there, too.

In the meantime, don’t forget to download the entire eBook, which also contains some frequently asked questions (FAQs) from IT hiring managers.